Topic:Japan

A wooden framework and curved plastic pipes provide a solid structure for 'knit' bundles of wara or rice straw, the byproduct of the season's rice harvest. As volunteers work together to tie and wrap the bundles into ...

Far too delicate to touch with fingertips—just one ten-thousandth of a millimeter thick—gold leaf foil is an extremely delicate, almost transparent material. It requires a humid climate, pure water for the manufacturi...

A ballerina dances as the joints on her body are traced with a computer-generated rotoscope animation technique, an algorithm that brings a mathematical layer to her natural movements. Ballet Rotoscope (2011) was crea...

This large, six rotor drone with two 5-axis robot arms can grab and carry small items, potentially assisting humans, making deliveries, and assisting in emergency aid missions. It flies up to 60 km/h (37 mph) and tran...

Consider this line and its corresponding chorus as they graph and reflect the variables of different objects. It's a visual and aural experiment that can be created for anything... toast in the toaster, the wind in th...

When you see friends or acquaintances, do you hug or kiss on the cheek? Do you shake hands or say 'hey' and wave hello before starting a conversation? What greetings are most common where you live?
The Cut travels...

By carving simple yet elegant patterns into pottery, Japanese ceramicist Haruya Abe has created a beautiful line of handmade dishware and a large instagram following. His account features short videos of his diligent ...

File under practice and team work: Fourteen students from Japan's Fuji Municipal Harada Elementary School in Shizuoka Prefecture have set the "unfathomably fast" Guinness World Record for most skips over a single rope...

Beneath a ladybug's red shell, the spotted elytra that it's known for, the beetle's hind wings are efficiently folded until it wants to take off and fly. When it lands, the wings simply fold back up into a protected p...

A slow-building set up and then a surprising twist: "It’s different from what you expected" is a series of perception-bending short clips by Tokyo-based director Daihei Shibata. They were created for Design Ah! (デザ...

For farmers, millers, engineers, and artisans who live near a river or stream, a monjolo or kara-usu—a water powered hammer—can slowly grind grains into flours or soft stones into powders without repetitive human effo...

Yuasa, a small coastal town in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, is a fishing port and the producer of one of Japan’s most well known mandarin oranges, the Arida mikan. But a stroll through the traditional streets, includin...

Fly by drone over the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route, a 90 km route crossing Tateyama in the Japanese Alps. This snow corridor has become famous for Yukino-ōtani, a valley of snow with canyon-like walls that can reach 2...

French cyclist Matthias Dandois is a five time BMX flatlander champion. This Nov 2015 video, The Flat Side of Things 2, demonstrates the skills he's developed since he began practicing at age 12. What's flatland BMX? ...